Thousands of Knicks fans swarm NYC streets to party with team headed to NBA Finals

The Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in a dominant series, winning 37-point in the clinching game and ending a 27-year absence from the NBA Finals. Fans in New York celebrated immediately, filling watch parties and the streets outside Madison Square Garden with chants, climbing and improvised rituals, and crowd-surfing. Many revelers expressed long-awaited joy, noting they had endured years of losses and were finally on the winning side. Some linked the moment to broader New York sports excitement, contrasting divisions in other leagues while emphasizing unity around the Knicks. The celebrations continued even among fans too young to remember the 1999 Finals run.

"The win ended a 27-year dry spell since their last Finals appearance - and Knicks nation was quick to use the opportunity to make up for lost time. "The city has been waiting for it since 1999. We've been through so many losses and the fans have always stuck close. It's nice to finally be on the winning side," Kevin Calle, a 30-year-old human resources manager from New Jersey, told The Post outside of Radio City's watch party."

"While the scene at a Radio City remained under control, Madison Square Garden was plunged into a frenzy where thousands of revelers packed the streets immediately outside The Mecca. Some scaled lamp posts, while others used brooms to perform a ceremonial "sweep" and hoisted themselves onto elevated ledges. Within an hour of the Knicks' clinching win - a 37-point drubbing of the Cavs - fans were chanting, "f-k the World Cup!""

"Many in the mob weren't alive to see the Knicks play the lat time they made the NBA Finals in 1999, when they lost to the San Antonio Spurs. "It's the New York summer. There's a lot of things going on. The Yankees are doing well, but we got the New York Knicks taking it to the moon. Taking it to the moon!' Juan Pablo Estupinan, 23, told The Post outside of MSG - while even younger fans crowd-surfed above him."

""We're split in baseball, we're split on football, but New Yorkers are united with the Knicks," said Henry Hunt, 23, from New Jersey. "The crowd is going nuts. We've been waiting for this for a long time." Knicks diehards who trekked to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 threw thei"

Read at New York Post